Conduct

Sociology and Social Worlds

Liz Mcfall, Paul du Gay, and Simon Carter

Introduces conduct as a concept integral to the making and ordering of social worlds Provides an illustration of how techniques of conduct have at various historical moments been tied up with specific ideas about the 'social' in line with particular political projects, such as neo-liberalism Fosters an understanding of three key sociological concerns - individual/ social, matter and mediation - through an investigation of the rules of socially sanctioned conduct through specific institutions including the media, laws, manuals and guidebooks Introduces different theoretical and sociological approaches to questions of conduct and provides opportunities to compare, contrast and evaluate these

Conduct

Sociology and Social Worlds

Liz Mcfall, Paul du Gay, and Simon Carter

Description

The sociology of conduct is a well-established research field comprising Foucauldian studies on government, power and the individual; sociological approaches to social ordering exemplified in the work of theorists including Max Weber, Norbert Elias and Pierre Bordieu; and the symbolic interactionist work of theorists like G.H. Mead and Erving Goffman. The distinctiveness of this new book, one of three set texts for the new Open University course Making Social Worlds, resides in bringing together canonical sociological figures in a text that is designed to tackle fundamental questions about the social character of ordered and extremely disordered conduct, and which is aimed primarily at undergraduates.

The book offers an innovative perspective on how individual behaviour is socially patterned. It draws in part on the massive recent explosion of self-help manuals, television shows, and internet sites designed to produce and sanction particular forms of behaviour. It also taps into the enduring fascination with situations in which extreme and violent conduct is widespread. As such it offers a unique sociological perspective on both mundane, everyday and extreme, exceptional conduct.